PRESS RELEASE

PARLIAMENT OF SINGAPORE

NOMINATED MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT INVITATION FOR SUBMISSION OF NAMES

The general public is invited to submit names of persons to the Special Select Committee of Parliament for nomination by the Committee for appointment by the President as Nominated Members of Parliament (NMPs) from 26 October 2020 onwards. The 8-member Committee is chaired by Speaker Tan Chuan-Jin and comprises Mr Chan Chun Sing, Mr Gan Kim Yong, Ms Gan Siow Huang, Ms Indranee Rajah, Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman, Mr Leon Perera, and Dr Vivian Balakrishnan.

2 The persons to be nominated by the Committee shall be persons who have rendered distinguished public service, or who have brought honour to the Republic, or who have distinguished themselves in the field of arts and letters, sports, culture, the sciences, business, industry, the professions, social or community service or the labour movement.

3 Only names of persons who qualify for appointment as Nominated Members of Parliament should be submitted to the Committee for consideration.

4 Under Article 44(2) of the Constitution, a person is qualified for appointment as a Nominated Member of Parliament if the person –

(a) is a citizen of Singapore;

(b) is of the age of 21 years or above on the day of nomination;

(c) whose name appears in a current register of electors;

(d) is resident in Singapore at the date of his/her nomination and has been so resident for periods amounting in the aggregate to not less than 10 years prior to that date;

(e) is able, with a degree of proficiency sufficient to enable him/her to take an active part in the proceedings of Parliament, to speak and, unless incapacitated by blindness or other physical cause, to read and write at least one of the following languages, that is to say, English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil; and

(f) is not disqualified from being a Member of Parliament under Article 45 of the Constitution.

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5 Mr Speaker will meet representatives of seven Functional Groups, namely (i) business and industry; (ii) the professions; (iii) labour movement; (iv) social service organisations; (v) civic and people sector; (vi) tertiary education institutions; and (vii) media, arts and sports organisations, to inform them of the procedure in submitting nominations to the Special Select Committee. A Coordinator has been appointed by Mr Speaker for each Functional Group to seek the views of their constituent organisations and to submit names of suitable candidates to the Special Select Committee for consideration.

6 The Coordinators of the seven Functional Groups are:

Business and Industry: Mr Lim Ming Yan Chairman Singapore Business Federation 160 Robinson Road, #06-01 Singapore 068914

Labour: Ms Mary Liew President National Trades Union Congress NTUC Centre, One Marina Boulevard Singapore 018989

Professions: Dr Teo Eng Kiong Master Academy of Medicine, Singapore 81 Kim Keat Road #12-00, NKF Centre Singapore 328836

Social Service Organisations: Ms Tan Li San Chief Executive Officer National Council of Social Service 170 Ghim Moh Road #01-02, NCSS Centre Singapore 279621

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Civic and People Sector: Mr Lim Hock Yu Chief Executive Director People's Association 9 King George's Avenue Singapore 208581

Tertiary Education Institutions: Prof Tan Eng Chye President National University of Singapore 21 Lower Kent Ridge Rd Singapore 119077

Media, Arts and Sports Ms Goh Swee Chen Organisations: Chairman National Arts Council 90 Goodman Road Goodman Arts Centre Blk A #01-01 Singapore 439053

7 Any organisation wishing to nominate persons for consideration can submit their nominations to the abovementioned Coordinators. The invitation for submission of names to the Special Select Committee is open to the general public. A person not selected by a Functional Group may be nominated by another proposer. The Special Select Committee will consider all applications.

8 In proposing names for consideration as NMPs, the attention of the organisations and members of the public is drawn to the provision of the Constitution which states:

“The persons to be nominated shall be persons who have rendered distinguished public service, or who have brought honour to the Republic, or who have distinguished themselves in the field of arts, letters, culture, the sciences, business, industry, the professions, social or community service or the labour movement.”

9 Submission of names must be made using the prescribed forms that are available for download from the Parliament website at www.parliament.gov.sg. The required forms and documents are to be submitted online via FormSG (https://go.gov.sg/nmp2020). The materials for submission should be in PDF format. The total size of your materials should not exceed 7MB.

10 Alternatively, you may submit the completed forms and supporting documents at the Office of the Clerk of Parliament located at Parliament House, 1 Parliament Place, Singapore 178880.

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11 The completed forms and supporting documents must be submitted online via FormSG, or received by the Office of the Clerk of Parliament, by 23 November 2020, at 4.30 pm.

12 The process for the consideration of persons proposed to the Special Select Committee of Parliament is set out in the Annex.

Office of the Clerk of Parliament Singapore, 25 October 2020

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ANNEX

PROCESS FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF PERSONS PROPOSED AS NOMINATED MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT

The Special Select Committee’s (“Committee”) process for the consideration of persons proposed as Nominated Members of Parliament is as follows:

STEP 1 The general public is invited to submit names of persons to the Special Select Committee of Parliament, for nomination by the Committee for appointment by the President as Nominated Members of Parliament (“NMP”).

STEP 2 After the closing date, the Committee will consult elected Members of Parliament and seek their comments on the persons proposed.

STEP 3 The Committee will assess all applications and consider the comments received from elected Members of Parliament. In deliberating on the persons to interview, the Committee is guided by the criteria set out in Section 3(2) of the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore.

STEP 4 The Committee will meet over a few days to interview candidates.

STEP 5 Following the interviews, the Committee will discuss and agree on the persons to nominate for appointment by the President as NMPs. In its deliberations, the Committee is guided by the criteria set out in Section 3(2) of the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore, which provides that the persons to be nominated:

• shall be persons who have rendered distinguished public service, or who have brought honour to the Republic, or who have distinguished themselves in the field of arts and letters, culture, the sciences, business, industry, the professions, social or community service or the labour movement; and

• will be able to reflect as wide a range of independent and non-partisan views as possible.

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STEP 6 The Committee will submit a list of persons to be appointed as NMPs to the President.

STEP 7 The persons proposed will be appointed as NMPs by the President and presented with their Instruments of Appointment at the Istana.

STEP 8 The NMPs will take their Oaths of Allegiance at a sitting in Parliament.

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